Summer in New England

This has been a summer to remember so far. We are heading into our last week in New England. The time has flown by. Some people ask how we make friends while moving every few months. My simple answer is. We just do. It's definitely easier since I'm an extrovert and enjoy meeting new people. I think it's exciting to meet people from all over the country which easily happens in an RV park setting.

One aspect of RV park living is people are often coming and going. The weekends are filled up with new visitors. This has meant lots of new kids around for our little guy. He has become confident in meeting new friends and walks up to any kid now and says hi and usually asks what their name is. I think it has been a great learning experience for him to make quick friends. It's been fun to see him in a natural outdoor setting with kids of all ages learning to play games like hide and seek, freeze tag, chase, and swimming games. 

Many of Caleb’s work days, the kiddo and I enjoyed lots of outdoor play any non-rainy day we got. Anyone locally we've talked with says there has been a lot more rainy days than normal. Climbing on the playground, teaching him horseshoes, building sand box creations, campfire building, bike riding practicing, and playing with new friends. We thoroughly enjoyed the swimming pond and sandy beach the most. Some families were also here for the summer season like us so those kids were always around. Some of these families were also travel nurse families. All RV living like us. 

New England summer temps have been very pleasant hanging out around the high 70s and we've only had a handful of hot days 90+.  It seemed it was raining any day Caleb was off work and we were actually at our Vermont campground. This led to very few days of outdoor exploring and hiking as we expected in the surrounding parts of Vermont and New Hampshire. The rain wasn't the only reason we didn't get out to explore much of VT and NH. The main reason was we spent many of our weeks in Maine. My mom is from Lincolnville, Maine and my family has a cabin on a small lake where I spent many summer weeks growing up. Our family cabin was 4.5 hours away from our Vermont campground, but we went often when Caleb would have 4-6 day stretches off work. 

Heather's parents Linwood & Lisa a.k.a. Grandpa and Gram

Caleb's parents Rick & Carrie a.k.a. Grandpa and Gram

Lots of family and friends came for vacation with us at my family’s cabin in Maine. Caleb’s parents and grandma came for a week with us. My parents came for a week. And our dear friends from Colorado Springs flew out for 5 days with us. We also soaked up coastal Maine days as our little family of three -me, Caleb, and Hayden. 

Lighthouse views in Maine with Grammie

Everyone gets the option of a fresh caught lobster dinner
cooked for them when visiting our family cabin

Maybe having too much fun playing with the lobsters before it was cooking time

The kiddo and I also loved time with my friend Sarah and her kids. She lives an hour from our Vermont campground but we met up many times the past few months. It was special to reconnect with her and share our stories of motherhood, parenting, and life changes. We 

met the sweet new addition to their family. Their property is full of fun for kids with a playset, sandbox, woods, swimming pool, chickens, apple trees, a garden with berries to pick, and a yard for riding cars and tricycles around. We hope it’s not too long until we see them again.

We are headed to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for Caleb's next travel contract. 

I wrote in my last blog posts about how we have family and friends scattered across the country. This rings true once again. As we head to Myrtle Beach, we are going to be only 15 minutes down the road from my best friend from college. She moved to Surfside Beach two years ago for her husband to be the pastor of First Baptist Surfside. Sarah who is in New Hampshire and Kelli who is in South Carolina were both in our wedding. I am thankful for this lifestyle where we get to travel cross country with the possibilities of doing life alongside friends we otherwise only see every few years. 

We've been preparing Hayden for our move and 15+ hour road trip in a few days. As we were getting in the car talking about it again a couple nights ago, he threw his little hand in the air and said with his anticipatory voice of excitement "Bye New Hampshire!" almost as if he was saying "peace out guys." We had a good long laugh and said we weren't leaving yet. We have four more New England days to soak up and then we hit the road to 

I know many friends and family have asked how our nephew Owen has been doing. He had surgery on July 21st in Baltimore and the result was not the one hoped for. Too much of the growth plate in his leg was hardened into bone. He came out of surgery with an external fixator on his leg to help his bone grow and stretch. Along with his parents and sister, they are staying in Baltimore at least for two months to have access to specialized physical therapy needed while having an external fixator. We are stopping in Baltimore on our drive from VT/NH to South Carolina to see them for a quick visit. Please pray for them as nothing is easy right now with being far from home, the challenges of life with a fixator, and living in one room together. They are in hospital provided housing across the street from where his therapy is, but the four of them are living in what is like a hotel room. Please pray for Owen's leg bones to grow as they should and for no complications from the fixator. You can send me any questions you have about his treatments or their stay. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers for them.